Chapter 23, part 2

Jean stood in front of Clarisse’s door for a while, wondering if it was okay to come and see her this late at night…

When they returned home, Jean called for a doctor to examine Clarisse’s wound. He was informed that it was a minor wound just like she had told him it was, and after he cleaned up the wound, the doctor told them that it would heal nicely. 

They had dinner together and exchanged good night wishes before heading back to their room. Later in the night, while Jean was in his room, he received a letter from Viscountess Farenheit.

‘Should I just wait to tell her tomorrow morning?’

But he didn’t want to hide anything from Clarisse anymore if possible, so Jean knocked on the door with a light tap.

A few moments later, the faint sound of someone approaching echoed, and Clarisse, who had opened the door slightly, looked up at Jean with a surprised look on her face.

“Is there something I can help you with?”

“Ah… the Viscountess contacted me.”

Upon hearing this, Clarisse opened the door wide and invited Jean to come inside.

Clarisse was dressed in a thin, white nightgown, and although she had already removed her makeup, she still looked beyond beautiful, and Jean found it somewhat hard to look at her as he was distracted by her beauty. 

She sat there looking up at him with a concerned look on her face, probably not even imagining what thoughts were going on in his mind. As they sat down next to each other on the sofa, he was now ashamed of his sinister thoughts and started to speak, trying to avoid looking at her as much as possible.

“It seems that after an argument, Miss Farenheit hit the Viscount with tableware.”

A gasp escaped Clarisse’s throat.

“Sister Matilda?! With tableware! And how is father now?”

“Well..he was definitely hurt, but it doesn’t seem to be serious.”

If anything, the problem is more about what happened afterwards.

Jean continued.

“After that, the Viscount apparently hit Miss Farenheit…”

After the Viscountess saw them off, she returned to the mansion, and the butler immediately rushed up to her, informing her of the emergency.

When the Viscountess hurried back to the tea room, she found an enraged Viscount, bleeding from the head, mounted on Matilda and beating her senselessly.

The Viscountess shuddered at the sight of her husband, who had once been violent toward her, but she gathered herself up to protect her daughter and asked the butler and other male servants to seize the Viscount at once and free Matilda from his grip. 

However, by the time they managed to do that, Matilda was unable to move and her face was swollen horribly, according to the letter.

Clarisse covered her face with her hands.

“-…How…how could he…do such a terrible thing?”

Jean was about to reach out to her, but stopped midway and tightened his fist.

“Perhaps it’s my fault. The two of them might have gotten into an argument because I mentioned earlier that Miss Farenheit was not the daughter of the Viscount…”

He was angry at Clarisse’s father and sister, so he ruthlessly lashed out with words, but it seems that this wasn’t the best move, as it might have ended up making Clarisse sad in the end. However, Clarisse looked up at him and spoke in a firm tone.

“No…it’s not your fault, Jean-sama. It’s just that…it’s a torn family to begin with. And regardless of what happened, there is no reason for a man to be violent toward a woman. Of course, it’s not okay for Sister to throw something at Father either… In any case, maybe both of them are just getting what they deserve for their own actions.”

Clarisse started with a sigh and continued, “What else did my mother say?”

Jean had felt some sympathy for Clarisse’s mother’s situation as he listened to her story earlier, and was deeply convinced that the reason Clarisse had grown up so pure despite being mistreated by the Viscount and Matilda might have been because her mother had protected her behind the scenes. Still, when he received this message from her, this feeling became stronger.

“Don’t worry about our house anymore. Do not come back. “

Tears welled up in her violet eyes, as she dropped back in her chair and squeezed her knees together. It was a rude gesture, but Jean knew exactly how she felt, so he just held her tightly as if trying to comfort her.

“Mother… she is going to fight this on her own…”

“I suppose so.”

Clarisse’s tiny body was trembling, and Jean wished very much that he could take over all of her sorrow; if that was not possible, he wanted to carry it with her. Clarisse cried for a while, but eventually she raised herself up slowly, wiping away her tears, and Jean released her body a bit to check her expression. The initial shock that was evident on her face seemed to have eased, and Clarisse appeared to have calmed down.

“Thank you, Jean-sama, for trying to comfort me.”

“No, I’m sorry for telling you this late at night, but I thought you’d want to know as soon as possible.”

Clarisse smiled slightly and nodded.

“Yes, I’m glad you told me.”

The atmosphere between them was more intimate than ever before, and when Jean began to feel slightly awkward and tried to stand up, she grabbed the hem of his nightgown.

“Oh…I’m sorry.”

She was so sad to see Jean go that she grabbed him unconsciously, and she couldn’t help but blush and quickly remove her hand.

“I won’t do anything … so, can I stay with you tonight?”

When Jean asked her this, she looked like a blooming flower as she smiled beautifully.